Communication device and method of controlling same

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, methods, and systems of measuring received power are described, including apparatuses, methods, and systems which can measure received power, even when the subcarrier offset of the measurement bandwidth is different from the subcarrier bandwidth of the cell bandwidth. A method includes receiving, via a transceiver, first channel state information including a first index associated with first subcarrier offset information from a first Base Station (BS); receiving, via the transceiver, a plurality of Resource Blocks (RBs) from a second BS; configuring a second index associated with the plurality of RBs, instead of the first index, when the first index is different from the second index; measuring a received power based on the plurality of RBs from the second BS by using the second index; and identifying the measured received power as a valid received power.

PRIORITY

This application is Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/080,870, which was filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office onMar. 25, 2016, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to KoreanPatent Application Serial No. 10-2015-0146227, which was filed in theKorean Intellectual Property Office on Oct. 20, 2015, the entire contentof each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates generally to a communication device and amethod of controlling the same and, more particularly, to acommunication device capable of measuring valid (or effective oravailable) reception power using a Channel State Information ReferenceSignal (CSI-RS) configuration and a method of controlling the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

The ON/OFF feature of a small cell was introduced for small cellenhancement, and aims at load balancing while reducing power consumptionof a small cell station and reducing interference. When there is no UserEquipment (UE) being serviced by the small cell, the small cell entersan off state and maintains the off state until there is a UE to beserviced. The small cell transmits a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS),for example, a synchronization signal such as a Primary SynchronizationSignal (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), a Cell-specificReference Signal (CRS), or a Channel State Information Reference Signal(CSI-RS) in a time window periodically set by a Discovery SignalMeasurement Timing Configuration (DMTC) defined in the 3^(rd) GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) standard to make the UE measure signalquality of an available small cell in the off state.

The UE performs measurement for small cell discovery in a time window byusing a DMTC parameter. The UE discovers a frame boundary by using asynchronization signal and measures received power, for example,Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), by using the CRS or the CSI-RS.In the present disclosure, the bandwidth of the small cell is referredto as the cell bandwidth and the bandwidth for measuring CRS RSRP orCSI-RS RSRP is referred to as the measurement bandwidth. Informationrelated to the measurement bandwidth (sometimes referred to asmeasurement bandwidth information) is transmitted from a first or macroBase Station (BS) (for example, a macro BS). For LTE (Long TermEvolution) system, the BS is called an eNodeB.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a distribution of synchronizationsignals, CRSs and CSI-RSs in an LTE frame structure. The UE measuresRSRP by using CRSs of second or smaller BSs (for example, small cells)and by using CSI-RSs by a configuration of the first BS. When receivedpower is measured using the CSI-RS, locations of valid CSI-RSs to beused for measuring the received power are changed according to acombination of the cell bandwidth and the measurement bandwidth and theCSI-RS configuration, so that it is required to consider the combinationand the CSI-RS configuration when measuring the received power.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate how a problem may occur when the receivedpower is measured without regard to the locations of CSI-RSs. In FIG.2A, there is no problem, while FIG. 2B illustrates how a problem mayoccur.

In FIGS. 2A and 2B, the cell bandwidth of the second BS is 100 ResourceBlocks (RBs) (20 MHz), the respective measurement bandwidths are 6 RBs(1.4 MHz) in FIG. 2A and 25 RBs (5 MHz) in FIG. 2B, the Cyclic Prefix(CP) is the normal type, and the CSI-RS configuration is 0 (which hasthe corresponding subcarrier offset k=9). The “subcarrier offset (k)”may be referred to as the “subcarrier index” or briefly as the “index”.

In FIG. 2A, where the CSI-RS configuration is 0 and the subcarrieroffset (k) is 9, each CSI-RS 205 is located at a position where thesubcarrier offset corresponds to 9 in the series of RBs 200 acquiredfrom the small cell (sometimes referred to as “cell RBs”). Since eachCSI-RS 205 is located where the subcarrier offset corresponds to 9 basedon the RBs used for measuring the CSI-RS 205 (that is, RB #0 to RB #5,such RBs are sometimes referred to as “measurement RBs”), there is noproblem even though the measurement RBs and the cell RBs are different,because they line up.

By contrast, in FIG. 2B, the subcarrier offset (that is, k=3) of themeasurement bandwidth is different from the subcarrier offset (that is,k=9) of the cell bandwidth. In this case, because the CSI-RS is acquiredto measure the received power, the communication device or the UE maynot be able to measure the valid received power. That is, while thesubcarrier offset of the CSI-RS 205 signals for the cell RBs 200 is 9,the subcarrier offset corresponding to the location of the CSI-RS 205signals in terms of the measurement RBs 210 is 3. However, according toconventional methods, the communication device or the UE acquires (inother words, extracts) the CSI-RS 205 at the position (that is, k=9)corresponding to the subcarrier offset indicated by the first BS for thecell RBs 200, and not for the measurement RBs 210. As a result, thecorrect CSI-RS 205 cannot be acquired and, accordingly, correct receivedpower cannot be measured.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure address at least the above-mentionedproblems and/or disadvantages and provide at least the advantagesdescribed below.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, communicationdevices, UEs, methods, and systems are provided which measure validreceived power using re-configured (alternative) CSI-RS configurations,sequence shifts, and/or resource block movements/shifts, even when thesubcarrier offset of the measurement bandwidth is different from thesubcarrier offset of the cell bandwidth.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a communicationdevice is provided which includes a transceiver; a memory; and aprocessor electrically connected to the transceiver and the memory. Theprocessor is configured to control the transceiver to receive firstchannel state information including a first index associated with firstsubcarrier offset information from a first Base Station (BS) and receivea plurality of Resource Blocks (RBs) from a second BS, configure asecond index associated with the plurality of RBs, instead of the firstindex, when the first index is different from the second index, measurereceived power based on the plurality of RBs from the second BS by usingthe second index, and identify the received power as a valid receivedpower.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofa communication device is provided. The method includes receiving, via atransceiver, first channel state information including a first indexassociated with first subcarrier offset information from a first BaseStation (BS); receiving, via the transceiver, a plurality of ResourceBlocks (RBs) from a second BS; configuring a second index associatedwith the plurality of RBs, instead of the first index, when the firstindex is different from the second index; measuring a received powerbased on the plurality of RBs from the second BS by using the secondindex; and identifying the measured received power as a valid receivedpower.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method isprovided for a UE including a communication device. The method includesreceiving, via a transceiver, first channel state information includinga first index associated with first subcarrier offset information from afirst Base Station (BS); receiving, via the transceiver, a plurality ofResource Blocks (RBs) from a second BS; configuring a second indexassociated with the plurality of RBs, instead of the first index, whenthe first index is different from the second index; measuring a receivedpower based on the plurality of RBs from the second BS by using thesecond index; and identifying the measured received power as a validreceived power.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a distribution of synchronizationsignals, CRSs, and CSI-RSs in an LTE frame structure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a problem that may occur when received poweris measured without knowledge of the relative locations of CSI-RSs;

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a communication device according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B illustrates an example of a UE including a communication deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3C illustrates an example of a communication system according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of function/functions oroperation/operations of measuring received power by using a CSI-RSacquired based on an alternative CSI-RS configuration according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an example of a table for determining offsets, CSI-RSconfigurations, and alternative CSI-RS configurations according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of function/functions oroperation/operations of measuring received power by acquiring the CSI-RSby using the alternative subcarrier offset and de-scrambling the CSI-RSacquired using the alternative subcarrier offset according to a shiftedCSI-RS sequence according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of function/functions oroperation/operations of measuring received power by acquiring a CSI-RSusing the alternative subcarrier offset and an RB shift according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method of determining received poweraccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 to 7; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method of measuring received power wheninformation on a cell bandwidth is provided according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, itshould be understood that there is no intent to limit the presentdisclosure to the particular embodiments and/or details disclosedherein; rather, the present disclosure should be construed to cover anymodifications, equivalents, and/or alternatives of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure described herein. In the drawings, similarreference numerals may be used to designate similar constituentelements.

As used herein, the expressions “have”, “may have”, “include”, or “mayinclude” refer to the existence of a corresponding listed feature oritem (e.g., numeral, function, operation, or constituent element, suchas a component), but do not exclude the existence of one or moreadditional features or items not listed.

In the present disclosure, the expressions “A and/or B”, “at least oneof A and/or B”, or “one or more of A and/or B” may include all possiblecombinations of the items listed. For example, the expressions “A and/orB”, “at least one of A and B”, or “at least one of A or B” refer to allof (1) including at least one A, (2) including at least one B, or (3)including all of at least one A and at least one B.

The ordinal numbers such as “first”, “second”, “third”, and so on usedto describe various items in various embodiments of the presentdisclosure are for purposes of convenience of identification only. Suchterms do not signify the order and/or the importance and do not limitthe corresponding components in any way. For example, a first userdevice and a second user device indicate different user devices althoughboth of them are user devices. For example, a first element may bereferred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may bereferred to as a first element without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

It should be understood that when an element (e.g., first element) isreferred to as being (operatively, electrically, or communicatively)“connected” or “coupled” to another element (e.g., second element), itmay be directly connected/coupled to the other element or anotherelement (e.g., third element) may be interposed between them. Incontrast, when an element (e.g., first element) is referred to as being“directly connected,” or “directly coupled” to another element (secondelement), there are no elements (e.g., third element) interposed betweenthem.

The expression “configured to” used in the present disclosure may beused interchangeably with, for example, “suitable for”, “having thecapacity to”, “designed to”, “adapted to”, “made to”, or “capable of”according to the context/situation. The term “configured to” may notnecessarily imply “specifically designed to” perform designated tasks inhardware. Alternatively, in some situations, the expression “deviceconfigured to” may mean that the device, together with other devices orcomponents, “is able to”. For example, the phrase “processor adapted (orconfigured) to perform A, B, and C” may mean a dedicated processor (e.g.embedded processor) only for performing the corresponding operations ora generic-purpose processor (e.g., central processing unit (CPU) orapplication processor (AP)) that can perform the correspondingoperations by executing one or more software programs stored in a memorydevice.

The terms used herein are merely for the purpose of describingparticular embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure. As used herein, singular forms may include plural forms aswell unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Unless definedotherwise, all terms used herein, including technical and scientificterms, have the same meaning as those commonly understood by a personskilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. Terms suchas those defined in a generally used dictionary should be interpreted tohave their contextual meanings in the relevant field of art, and not beinterpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearlydefined in the present disclosure. Any term used in the presentdisclosure should not be interpreted to exclude embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to measure receivedpower of communications even when the cell bandwidth is different fromthe measurement bandwidth.

A communication device and a User Equipment (UE) according to variousembodiments will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the present disclosure, the term user may refer to a personwho uses the communication device, a device (for example, an artificialintelligence device) which uses the communication device, a person whouses the UE, or a device which uses the UE.

FIG. 3A is an example of a communication device 300 according toembodiments of the present disclosure; FIG. 3B is an example of a UE 310having communication device 300 and being connected to other devices anda network according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and FIG.3C is an example of UE 310 in a cellular communication system includinga macro BS and smaller BSs according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a communication device 300 accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure. In FIG. 3A, thecommunication device 300 includes a transceiver 301, a processor 302,and a memory 303.

The transceiver 301 configures communication between, for example, thecommunication device 300 and an external device (for example, a firstexternal electronic device 330, a second external electronic device 340,or a server 350 in FIG. 3B). As shown in FIG. 3B, the transceiver 370 isconnected to network 320 through wireless communication or wiredcommunication, so as to communicate with the second external device 340.Herein, “transceiver” is interchangeable with terms such as“communication module” and “communication interface”.

The wireless communication may use at least one of, for example, LongTerm Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advance (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS), WiBro (Wireless Broadband), and Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), as a cellular communication protocol. Further, thewireless communication may include, for example, short-rangecommunication. The short-range communication may include at least oneof, for example, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communication (NFC).The communication device 300 may also receive Global NavigationSatellite System (GNSS) signals, from GNSSs such as, for example, theU.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian Global NavigationSatellite System (GLONASS), the Chinese Global Navigation SatelliteSystem (Beidou), and the European Global Satellite-based NavigationSystem (Galileo), according to a use area, a bandwidth, or the like.Hereinafter, in the present disclosure, “GPS” may be usedinterchangeably with the “GNSS”. The wired communication may include atleast one of, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a HighDefinition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), an RS-232 interface, and PlainOld Telephone Service (POTS).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 302 may include one or more of a Communication Processor (CP),a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and an Application Processor (AP). Theprocessor 302 may carry out, for example, operations or data processingrelated to control and/or communication of at least one other element ofthe communication device 300. Herein, the term “processor” isinterchangeable with terms such as “control module”, “control unit”, and“controller”.

The memory 303 may include a volatile memory and/or a non-volatilememory. The memory 303 may store, for example, instructions or datarelated to at least one other element of the communication device 300.The memory 303 may store software and/or a program. The program mayinclude, for example, a kernel, middleware, an Application ProgrammingInterface (API), and/or an application program (or “application”).Although FIG. 3A illustrates that the memory 303 is included in thecommunication device 300, this is only an example; according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the memory 303 may be omittedfrom the communication device 300.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example of UE 310 including communication device300 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In FIG.3B, UE 310 includes the communication device 300, a display 312, and aninput/output interface 314. The communication device 300 is connected tonetwork 320, which may be a communication network such as a computernetwork (for example, a Large Access Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network(WAN), the Internet, and/or a telephone network).

The display 312 may be, for example, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), aLight-Emitting Diode (LED) display, an Organic Light-Emitting Diode(OLED) display, a MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) display, and/oran electronic paper display. The display 312 may display, for example,various types of contents (for example, text, images, videos, icons, orsymbols) for the user. The display 312 may include a touch screen andreceive, for example, a touch input, a gesture input, a proximity input,or a hovering input using an electronic pen or a user's body part.

The input/output interface 314 serves as an interface that may transferinstructions or data, which is input from a user or another externaldevice, to another element(s) of the UE 310. Further, the input/outputinterface 314 may output instructions or data received from anotherelement(s) of the UE 310 to a user or another external device.

The server 350, connected to UE 310 through network 320, may include,for example, a Central Management Server (CMS). The CMS may include aserver managed by a service operator (in other words, service provider).The CMS may include, for example, a server managed by a manufacturer ofthe UE 310 or a manufacturer of the communication device 300 (forexample, model) included in the UE 310. The server 350 may include aninformation processor and a database. The server 350 may be connected toa macro BS (for example, macro BS 360 in FIG. 3C).

FIG. 3C illustrates an example of a communication system according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, which includes first BS360 which may be, for example, a macro BS, two second BSs 370, which maybe, for example, small cell stations (for example, femto cell stations),and UE 310. The UE 310 may receive information on the second BS 370 fromthe first BS 360. The communication system with one first BS 360, twosecond BSs 370, and UE 310 illustrated in FIG. 3C is only an example fordescribing the present disclosure, and it would be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art that a communication system may have many moreand possibly less such elements.

FIGS. 4, 6, and 7 illustrate examples of measuring received poweraccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure. ° Thereceived power measured according to the method illustrated in FIG. 4 isreferred to as “second received power”, the received power measuredaccording to the method illustrated in FIG. 6 is referred to “thirdreceived power”, and the received power measured according to the methodillustrated in FIG. 7 is referred to as “fourth received power”, whilethe received power measured according to the method illustrated in FIGS.2A and 2B is referred to as “first received power”. The terms firstreceived power, second received power, third received power, and fourthreceived power are only examples for convenience of the description ofthe present disclosure, and the first received power, the secondreceived power, the third received power, and the fourth received powermay be the same value as each other or different values from each other.In the present disclosure, the first received power to the fourthreceived power include the same type of received power (for example,RSRP), but the first received power to the fourth received power may bedifferent types of measuring received power according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of function/functions oroperation/operations of measuring received power by using a CSI-RSacquired based on a re-configured (alternative) CSI-RS configurationaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

As described with reference to FIG. 2B, the subcarrier offset of themeasurement bandwidth may be different from the subcarrier offset of thecell bandwidth actually acquired by the communication device 300 or theUE 310. Similarly, in FIG. 4, the subcarrier offset of measurement RBs410 (i.e., k=3) is different than the subcarrier offset of cell RBs 400(i.e., k=9) actually acquired by the communication device or UE.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thesubcarrier offset acquired from the first BS is re-configured accordingto, for example, the table in FIG. 5 and the CSI-RS is acquiredaccording to the offset of the table. In FIG. 4, CSI-RS 405 is acquiredat the position determined according to the re-configured (alternative)subcarrier offset 420 (that is, k=3 according to the ALTERNATIVESUBCARRIER OFFSET column in FIG. 5). In one embodiment, the processor orcontroller of the communication device is configured to measure receivedpower by using the CSI-RS acquired at the re-configured position.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the secondreceived power is measured when the subcarrier offset of the CSI-RSconfiguration received from the first BS is larger than, for example, 5.That is, the processor or controller of the communication device maymeasure each of the first received power and the second received powerwhen the subcarrier offset is larger than 5. To this end, in certainembodiments, the processor is configured to determine whether thesubcarrier offset has a value larger than 5. The processor may also beconfigured to compare sizes (or strengths or intensities) of themeasured first received power and second received power and to determinethe received power having a larger value as the valid received power.The term “alternative subcarrier offset” may be referred to as a term“symmetric subcarrier offset”. Further, the term “alternative CSI-RSconfiguration” may be referred to as a term “symmetric CSI-RSconfiguration” or “second channel state information”. In addition, inthe present disclosure, the CSI-RS configuration acquired from the firstBS may be referred to as the term “first channel state information”.

FIG. 5 is an example of a table for determining offsets, CSI-RSconfigurations, and alternative CSI-RS configurations, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure. The table for determiningthe alternative subcarrier offsets as shown in FIG. 5 may be stored inmemory 303 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The alternative CSI-RS configuration is calculated based on the CSI-RSconfiguration provided from the first BS using Equation (1) below:

(k+6)%12  (1)

where k is the subcarrier offset (for example, k in the table of FIG. 5)provided by the first BS and % is the modular operator.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of function/functions oroperation/operations of measuring received power by acquiring a CSI-RSby using an alternative subcarrier offset and de-scrambling the CSI-RSacquired using the alternative subcarrier offset according to a shiftedCSI-RS sequence according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In FIG. 6, the cell bandwidth is 100 RBs, the CP type isnormal, the CSI-RS configuration is 10, and the measurement bandwidth is25 RBs.

In FIG. 6, CSI-RS 605 is acquired by using the alternative subcarrieroffset described with reference to FIG. 5 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. Further, the received power ismeasured by using a sequence shifted according to a predetermined valueand direction and the CSI-RS acquired using the alternative subcarrieroffset. In this embodiment, the sequence shift is a shift of 1 in thepositive direction (that is, the direction in which the sequenceincreases). As illustrated in FIG. 6, since the CSI-RS configurationreceived from the first BS is 10, the corresponding subcarrier offset is3 (k=3). However, in terms of measurement RB0 610, the subcarrier offsetis 9 (k=9) and the CSI-RS configuration corresponding to this subcarrieroffset is 10. That is, in the row for CSI Configuration 10 in the tableof FIG. 5, the ALTERNATIVE SUBCARRIER OFFSET value is 9. Depending onthe circumstances, which circumstances do exist in FIG. 6, the CSI-RScorresponding to the alternative subcarrier offset (that is, k=9) may belocated in the next cell bandwidth sequence (that is, sequence #43)rather than the initial cell bandwidth sequence (that is, sequence #42)of the cell RBs 600 corresponding to the start position of the initialmeasurement bandwidth RB #0 (or start RB) of the measurement RBs 610. Inother words, measurement RB0 starts in sequence 42 and ends in sequence43), and the offset may end up being in sequence 43, i.e., the end cellRB. In the present disclosure, the term “sequence shift” may also bereferred to as “Pseudo Noise (PN) offset”.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of function/functions oroperation/operations of measuring received power by using a CSI-RSacquired based on an RB shift according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

In FIG. 7, CSI-RS 705 is acquired by simultaneously using thealternative subcarrier offset from the table of FIG. 5 and the RB shiftof cell RBs 700 according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In this embodiment, the RB shift (or “RB offset”) is a shiftof 1 in the negative direction (that is, the direction in which thesequence decreases). As illustrated in FIG. 7, since the CSI-RSconfiguration received from the first BS is 10, the correspondingsubcarrier offset is 3. However, in terms of measurement RB #0 710, thesubcarrier offset is 9. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the CSI-RS may belocated before a cell RB (that is, RB #37) corresponding to the startposition of the initial measurement RB (that is, RB #0). In theembodiment shown in FIG. 7, the received power is measured using CSI-RSslocated at RB #37 to RB #61 of the cell bandwidth instead of CSI-RSslocated at RB #38 to RB #62 of the cell bandwidth, as in FIG. 6. The RBshift may be referred to as the RB offset. In one embodiment, theprocessor in the communication device may be configured to measurereceived power by acquiring CSI-RSs corresponding to positions usingboth the alternative subcarrier offset and the RB offset.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the thirdreceived power or the fourth received power is measured when thesubcarrier offset of the CSI-RS configuration received from the first BSis less than or equal to, for example, 5. That is, when the subcarrieroffset configured from the first BS is less than or equal to than 5, thefirst received power and the third received power may be measured, orthe first received power and the fourth received power may be measured.To this end, in an embodiment, the processor in the communication deviceis configured to determine whether the subcarrier offset configured fromthe first BS has a value less than or equal to 5.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the valuesof the measured first received power and third received power or valuesof the measured first received power and fourth received power may becompared to determine which received power is the valid received power.For example, the processor or controller of the communication device maybe configured to compare the values of the measured first received powerand third received power or the values of the measured first receivedpower and fourth received power may be compared and the larger value maybe determined as the valid received power.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method of determining received poweraccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 to 7.

In step 800, first channel state information including measurementbandwidth information is received from a first BS and a plurality of RBsare received from a second BS. In step 810, the first received power ofthe plurality of RBs is measured according to a subcarrier offsetconfigured from the first BS.

In step 820, it is determined whether the subcarrier offset has a valuegreater than 5. If subcarrier offset has a value greater than 5, thesecond received power of the plurality of RBs is measured in step 830.If the subcarrier offset value is less than or equal to 5, the thirdreceived power or fourth received power of the plurality of RBs ismeasured.

After either measurement step 830 or measurement step 840, the values ofthe measured received powers are compared and the received power havingthe largest value is determined to be the valid received power in step850.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method of measuring received power wheninformation on a cell bandwidth (that is, cell bandwidth information) isprovided to the communication device according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure. Unlike the various embodiments of the presentdisclosure described above, in FIG. 9, cell bandwidth information may beprovided to the device from, for example, the Central Management Server(CMS) or the Individual DataBase (IDB).

In step 900, measurement bandwidth information (for example, firstchannel state information) is acquired from a first BS (for example, amacro BS).

In step 910, it is determined whether the cell bandwidth information isacquired. In other embodiments, step 900 may include an operation ofdetermining whether the cell bandwidth information becomes known to thecommunication device or the UE. If it is determined that the cellbandwidth information is not acquired in step 910, the received powermay be measured according to the method described in FIG. 8.

If it is determined that the cell bandwidth information is acquired instep 910, it is determined whether it is required to use the alternativesubcarrier offset based on the cell bandwidth information in step 930.Unlike the embodiment of FIG. 8, not only the measurement bandwidthinformation but also the cell bandwidth information is known to theUE/communication device in the embodiment of FIG. 9, so that step 930can be performed. If the alternative subcarrier offset is not requiredin step 930, the first received power is measured in step 940 based onthe measurement bandwidth information received from the first BS. Oneexample of when there is no need to use the alternative subcarrieroffset is the case where the cell bandwidth is 100 RBs and themeasurement bandwidth is 6 RBs.

If the alternative subcarrier offset is required in step 930, thereceived power may be measured according to one of the methods ofmeasuring second received power, third received power, and fourthreceived power determined based on the alternative subcarrier offset andthe cell bandwidth information in step 950. One example of when there isa need to use the alternative subcarrier offset is the case where thecell bandwidth is 100 RBs and the measurement bandwidth is 25 RBs

After either measurement step 940 or measurement step 950, the validreceived power is determined in step 960 from the measured receivedvalues.

The term “module” as used herein may, for example, mean a unit includinghardware, software, firmware, and/or a combination of two or more ofthem. The term “module” may be used interchangeably with, for example,the terms “unit”, “logic”, “logical block”, “component”, or “circuit”. A“module” may be a minimum unit of an integrated component element or apart thereof, or a minimum unit for performing one or more functions ora part thereof. A “module” may be mechanically or electronicallyimplemented. For example, a “module” according to the present disclosuremay include at least one of an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC) chip, a Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), and aprogrammable-logic device for performing operations which has been knownor are to be developed hereinafter.

According to various embodiments, at least some of the modules,functions, methods, operations, and the like according to the presentdisclosure may be implemented by means ofinstructions/commands/program(s) stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium. Theseinstructions/commands/program(s), when executed by a control module,processor, controller, and the like may cause the one or more componentsto execute the function corresponding to theinstructions/commands/program(s). Memory 103 may be a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing suchinstructions/commands/program(s).

The non-transitory computer readable recoding medium may be a hard disk,a floppy disk, magnetic media (e.g., a magnetic tape), optical media(e.g., a Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and a Digital VersatileDisc (DVD)), magneto-optical media (e.g., a floptical disk), a hardwaredevice (e.g., a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM),and/or a flash memory), and the like. In addition, the programinstructions may include high level language codes, which can beexecuted in a computer by using an interpreter, as well as machine codesmade by a compiler. The aforementioned hardware device may be configuredto operate as one or more software modules in order to perform one ormore operations of the present disclosure, and vice versa. Operationsexecuted according to various embodiments of the present disclosure maybe executed sequentially, in parallel, repeatedly, or in a heuristicmanner. Further, some operations may be executed according to anotherorder or may be omitted, or other operations may be added.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as definedby the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication device, comprising: atransceiver; a memory; and a processor electrically connected to thetransceiver and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:control the transceiver to receive first channel state informationincluding a first index associated with first subcarrier offsetinformation from a first Base Station (BS) and receive a plurality ofResource Blocks (RBs) from a second BS, configure a second indexassociated with the plurality of RBs, instead of the first index, whenthe first index is different from the second index, measure receivedpower based on the plurality of RBs from the second BS by using thesecond index, and identify the received power as a valid received power.2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: obtain a second channel state information referencesignal (CSI-RS) associated with the plurality of RBs from the second BSby using the second index, instead of a first CSI-RS based on the firstindex, and measure the received power based on the second CSI-RS.
 3. Thecommunication device of claim 2, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to obtain the second CSI-RS by shifting sequences of theplurality of RBs from the second BS according to a predetermined valueand a predetermined shifting direction.
 4. The communication device ofclaim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to measure a firstreceived power based on the plurality of RBs using the first index or asecond received power based on the plurality of RBs using the secondindex, when the first index value is larger than a predetermined value.5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to measure a third received power or a fourth received powerbased on the plurality of RBs using the second index, when the firstindex value is less than or equal to the predetermined value.
 6. Thecommunication device of claim 5, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: obtain the second CSI-RS by shifting sequences of theplurality of RBs from the second BS according to a second predeterminedvalue and a predetermined shifting direction, and measure the thirdreceived power by using the second CSI-RS obtained by the shiftingsequences of the plurality of RBs.
 7. The communication device of claim5, wherein the processor is further configured to: obtain the secondCSI-RS by shifting the plurality of RBs according to a secondpredetermined value and a predetermined shifting direction, and measurethe fourth received power by using the second CSI-RS obtained by theshifting of the plurality of RBs.
 8. The communication device of claim2, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the secondCSI-RS by shifting the plurality of RBs according to a predeterminedvalue and a predetermined shifting direction.
 9. The communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:measure a first received power based on the plurality of RBs using thefirst index and a second received power based on the plurality of RBsusing the second index, and identify one of the first received power andthe second received power having a highest strength as the validreceived power.
 10. The communication device of claim 1, wherein thememory stores information for obtaining the second index associated withsecond subcarrier offset information of the plurality of RBs using thefirst subcarrier offset information.
 11. A method of a communicationdevice, the method comprising: receiving, via a transceiver, firstchannel state information including a first index associated with firstsubcarrier offset information from a first Base Station (BS); receiving,via the transceiver, a plurality of Resource Blocks (RBs) from a secondBS; configuring a second index associated with the plurality of RBs,instead of the first index, when the first index is different from thesecond index; measuring a received power based on the plurality of RBsfrom the second BS by using the second index; and identifying themeasured received power as a valid received power.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising obtaining a second channel stateinformation reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with the plurality ofRBs from the second BS by using the second index instead of a firstCSI-RS based on the first index, wherein the received power is measuredbased on the second CSI-RS.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thesecond CSI-RS is obtained by shifting sequences of the plurality of RBsfrom the second BS according to a predetermined value and apredetermined shifting direction.
 14. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising measuring a first received power based on the plurality ofRBs using the first index or a second received power based on theplurality of RBs using the second index, when the value of the firstindex is larger than a predetermined value.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising measuring a third received power or a fourth receivedpower based on the plurality of RBs using the second index, when thevalue of the first index is less than or equal to the predeterminedvalue.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising obtaining thesecond CSI-RS by shifting sequences of the plurality of RBs from thesecond BS according to a second predetermined value and a predeterminedshifting direction, wherein the third received power is measured usingthe second CSI-RS obtained by the shifting sequences of the plurality ofRBs.
 17. The method of claim 15, further comprising obtaining the secondCSI-RS by shifting the RBs according to a second predetermined value apredetermined shifting direction, wherein the fourth received power ismeasured using the second CSI-RS obtained by the shifting the pluralityof RBs.
 18. The method of claim 11, further comprising storinginformation for obtaining the second index associated with secondsubcarrier offset information of the plurality of RBs using the firstsubcarrier offset information in a memory of the communication device.19. The method of claim 11, further comprising: measuring a firstreceived power based on the plurality of RBs using the first index and asecond received power based on the plurality of RBs using the secondindex; and identifying one of the first received power and the secondreceived power having a highest strength as the valid received power.20. A method of a User Equipment (UE) including a communication device,the method comprising: receiving, via a transceiver, first channel stateinformation including a first index associated with first subcarrieroffset information from a first Base Station (BS); receiving, via thetransceiver, a plurality of Resource Blocks (RBs) from a second BS;configuring a second index associated with the plurality of RBs, insteadof the first index, when the first index is different from the secondindex; measuring a received power based on the plurality of RBs from thesecond BS by using the second index; and identifying the measuredreceived power as a valid received power.